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The Dutch, introduced in the Gods & Kings expansion for Civilization V, are an interesting civilization. First, they have a unique ability to retain half the Happiness bonus of a luxury resource they control after they've traded their last copy of it. This ability is quite powerful, because a civilization rarely has more than one count of most luxuries (especially in the early-middle of the game). Trading away those single luxuries may get you valuable Gold income when you need it, or allow you to get access to other luxuries, while still retaining sufficient Happiness. This allows for great flexibility for an entrepreneurial player.

Second, as a seafaring civilization, they have a great unique naval unit, the Sea Beggar. With two free Coastal Raider promotions and the ability to heal outside of friendly waters, it is substantially more powerful than the normal Privateer it replaces. With this unit, the Dutch may go on the offensive in the Renaissance and Industrial Eras, capturing enemy coastal cities and turning their own ships against them!

These qualities point towards developing the Dutch as a seafaring trading civilization, although the AI seems inclined to pursue Science for some reason.

Finally, they are the only civilization that can make use of the marsh tiles, which is possible with their Polder improvement. After researching Economics, Polders become even more useful, especially when built on flood plains.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, often referred to simply as "Holland," has, under the influence of many ambitious empires, grown from a minor province of northern Europe into one of the world's premier trade centers. Beginning with the conquests of the Romans, the later rise of the Franks, and eventually the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands became a frequent target of expanding European kingdoms. However, none would leave a greater mark than the Spanish Habsburgs, whose persecution of Dutch Protestants under King Philip contributed directly to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War. Pitting the Dutch citizenry against their Spanish masters in a near-century long conflict for independence, once free of Spanish rule, the people of the Netherlands worked tirelessly to establish their own national identity. As the new republic grew to become a leading economic power, many great cultural and scientific figures rose from the newly formed nation.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands rests along the coast of northern Europe, while also governing the territories of Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten in the Caribbean Sea. The provinces of the Netherlands in Europe are extremely low in elevation, with much of the territory having been reclaimed from the sea through the extensive use of dykes. Despite a relatively small land area, approximately twice the size of the U.S. state of New Jersey, the Netherlands is home to more than 16 million people. Due to the minimal land available, the Netherlands have established a long history of urban planning and development, as many of the Dutch people reside in dense urban centers, including the capital city of Amsterdam.

Before the arrival of the Romans during the 1st century BC, the region of the Netherlands was inhabited by a wide range of Germanic tribes. Migrating from the surrounding areas, particularly Scandinavia, these tribes were also the early descendants of the Celts, who traced their origins to nearby Austria and Germany. Of these tribes, the Batavi, who lived on an island along the Rhine River, were among the most powerful and feared. Although the Batavians weren't known to have been particularly successful in trade or craft, their renown in battle alone was enough to secure their dominant position among the surrounding tribes.

The southernmost region of the Netherlands, known to the Romans as the province of Germania Inferior, was occupied during the 1st century AD by the Roman military. As documented by Julius Caesar in his "Commentaries on the Gallic Wars," the tribal Batavi are said to have fought alongside the Romans as mercenaries during their campaigns across Europe. The Batavi eventually revolted against the increasingly restrictive Roman control, which led to their subjugation. Roman forces controlled the area uncontested for nearly 400 years, until the collapse of the empire as a whole.

Although written records of this period are scarce, following the decline of the Roman Empire, the territory the Romans once occupied within the Netherlands was quickly absorbed by the Franks and the Frisians. Although these tribal groups had lived throughout the area for centuries, with the absence of the once powerful Romans, the opportunity for their expansion was now greatly increased. The Empire of the Franks eventually encompassed nearly all of the Netherlands and Germany, except for the Frisian Kingdom situated along the northern coast. Living in such close confines, the Franks and Frisians eventually became bitter rivals, settling their territorial disputes through a series of wars. In 734, the Franks' victory at the Battle of the Boarn marked the dissolution of the Frisian Kingdom and their absorption into the Frankish Empire. The later conquest of Italy and the Frankish expansion under Charlemagne created the foundations of several future kingdoms, including those of France and Germany, under whose dominion the Netherlands fell in the coming centuries.

Following Charlemagne's death in 814, the Frankish Empire was divided into three parts, the Middle, Eastern, and Western Frankish kingdoms. The majority of the Netherlands became part of the Middle Kingdom, under the rule of Lothair I. The division of the once vast empire also led to the creation of the Kingdoms of Germany (which would become the Holy Roman Empire) and France, both of whom battled for influence and territory within the Netherlands. While much of the region would eventually fall under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire through the 15th Century AD, the Dukes of Burgundy, an offshoot of the French royal family, began to look towards the Netherlands with an eye for acquisition.

It was also during this period that the first of many terrible floods struck the Netherlands, killing thousands and destroying much of the infrastructure within the country. In 1287, the disastrous St. Lucia's flood struck the Netherlands, killing over 50,000 people and turning a small lake into an inlet of the North Sea that was known as the Zuiderzee. The Zuiderzee was only finally sealed off from the North Sea in the 20th century after the building of the Afsluitdijk, reestablishing the freshwater lake as it once was.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium fell under the near-complete control of the Burgundian dukes. Throughout the 1400s, the French dukes continually acquired more and more territory throughout the Dutch Low Country, via marriage and inheritance, carefully timed purchases, and annexation.

The Burgundian holdings within the Netherlands were inherited by the House of Habsburg through the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to the Duke of Austria, Maximilian I. Although his inheritance of the Burgundian lands was disputed by the King of France, the land was eventually passed to Mary's son, Phillip I, ensuring the transfer of power to the Habsburgs.

In 1521, the House of Habsburg was divided between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburg family lines, with the Spanish Habsburgs maintaining control of the Netherlands while the Austrians held Germany and the surrounding region as successive Holy Roman Emperors.

During the Protestant Reformation of Europe, wherein the traditional authority of Roman Catholicism came into question, the Protestant movement established a firm foothold within the Netherlands. The spread of Protestant beliefs within the Netherlands was of great concern to the nation's Catholic rulers, initially Charles V, and, more importantly, the later rule of his son, Philip II of Spain. King Philip's increasingly vicious persecution of the Dutch Protestants would lead to a surge in discontent among the Dutch people in the coming years.

As resentment of Philip's policies spread throughout the Netherlands, the most prominent figure of the Dutch revolt, William of Orange, emerged as a vocal proponent of religious tolerance. William was himself raised as a Protestant, but converted to Catholicism as part of his noble upbringing. Despite his religious views, he firmly believed that all people had the right to practice their own beliefs. As William was a Dutch nobleman, and served Spain as a loyal subject, he was initially hesitant to defy the king. However, when Philip made no attempt to appease the concerns of the Dutch, William's hand was forced. By 1567, small rebellions were already underway, and by choosing to fund the uprising and turn his back on Philip, William was declared an outlaw by Spain.

After William led his army to several victories in open warfare against Spain, in 1581 the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was created in the liberated northern territories. However, these initial successes only marked the beginning of a long conflict known as the Eighty Years' War, during which time the Spanish king remained in control of the southern Dutch territories. William of Orange was assassinated in 1584 by a Catholic follower loyal to king Philip, and the war raged on until 1648, when the Dutch Republic in its entirety was finally freed of Spanish control. It has to be made clear that the Dutch fought themselves free of the ultimate ruler of these days, as the empire of Spain could be compared to the U.S.A. of today. The Seven Provences on the other hand, were home to no more than two million people: this was a battle of David versus Goliath.

Following the Eighty Years' War and the creation of the Dutch Republic in the north, the Netherlands quickly became the dominant center of trade in Europe. Led by the Dutch East India Company, the world's first multinational corporation, Dutch traders established new commercial routes and settled colonies across the globe. This period that came to be known as the "Dutch Golden Age" also saw the swift ascension of Dutch scientific advancements, military innovation, and a flourishing culture of art and music within the Netherlands.

As England grew increasingly concerned over Dutch trade with the English, French, and Spanish colonies, hampering British trade efforts and profitability, a series of acts passed by the British Parliament in 1651 sought to control the extent of Dutch shipping. Known as the Navigation Acts, these regulations sought to restrict Dutch access to the English ports. These efforts by England to control the seas led directly to a series of conflicts known as the Anglo-Dutch Wars, fought throughout the 17th century. Initially, the Dutch had the upper hand, culminating in the assumption of the British throne by Dutch stadholder William III. This temporarily stopped the conflict but caused a shift of influence from Amsterdam to London. After this, Dutch power in both political circles and world trade was greatly reduced as a result of numerous naval battles that reduced the size and power of the Dutch fleet.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands as a whole were seized by the French in 1795, leading to the formation of the short-lived Batavian Republic, a satellite of the French Republic. With the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814, formally declaring the end to Napoleon's conquests of Europe, the Dutch people were once again able to claim their independence by forming the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Shortly thereafter, Belgium, which had still been considered part of the Netherlands up until this time, broke off to form an independent nation of its own in 1830.

Since first establishing themselves as a sovereign nation, the Dutch continually made efforts to maintain a policy of strict neutrality whenever possible. As such, the Netherlands remained neutral throughout the great conflict that was World War I, committing no arms to the fight but still maintaining economic ties with the belligerents of both sides.

During World War II, the Dutch again declared their neutrality at the outbreak of hostilities. However, this time Germany would not allow the valuable Dutch territory to remain unaligned. Invading in 1940, the Nazis faced great resistance from the Dutch military, especially at the Afsluitdijk and around the Grebbeberg, where Dutch soldiers sacrificed their lives to give the English and the French some more time, but after the bombing of Rotterdam, ruining over a quarter of the city, the Netherlands were overrun and occupied by the Third Reich. During the German occupation, the Dutch government fled the country and operated in exile, leaving the nation under the control of Nazi forces.

In 1944, in an effort to seize control of the bridges leading from the Netherlands to Germany over the Rhine and Maas rivers, the Allies launched one of the largest airborne missions in history, known as Operation Market Garden. The Allies dropped thousands of paratroopers into the region, but the mission was met with limited success. Allied commanders blamed poor weather and communication issues with hampering the Allied push, but the real problem was a German elite armored division staying in that area. Even though the Dutch resistance repeatedly called this in with the English, English commanders chose not to believe the Dutch because they thought their recon planes hadn't missed anything. As a result, the Netherlands north of the Rhine river remained under the grip of the Nazi regime until the eventual surrender of German forces in the spring of 1945.

The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliamentary body serving alongside the King, Willem-Alexander. As one of the founding members of the European Union, the kingdom has long contributed to the efforts of the union to bring peaceful relations and economic stability to the region. Den Haag, the third largest city in the Netherlands, is home to both the Dutch government as well as the United Nations International Court of Justice.

Throughout its history, the Netherlands has produced some of the world's most esteemed artists, scientists, researchers, and scholars, many of whom were integral in establishing the foundations of modern practice in their respective fields. Renowned painters Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent Van Gogh were both Dutch, and today their work is among the most admired - and valuable - in the art world. Scientists such as Christiaan Huygens, who was the first to discover the rings of Saturn, and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the "Father of Microbiology," both made immense contributions to the future of scientific discovery.

One of the largest exports of Holland, tulips, are produced en masse throughout the country. During the height of Dutch economic power in the 17th century, an event known as "Tulip Mania" spurred widespread speculation and price manipulation in the tulip trade, driving the prices of rare tulip breeds to astronomical levels before eventually collapsing.

Consumed the world over, Heineken Beer, first produced in Amsterdam in 1873, is widely recognized today as a signature product of the Netherlands with its distinctive green and red labeling.

The name "Holland" is said to have derived from the Dutch term holtland, meaning "Woodland" or "Wooded Land."